• An emulator which can create VGM files. At the time of writing, that means one of these:
  • Meka
  • Dega
• The game (ROM) you want to get the music from

In Meka:

Load the game you want to log music from. Click on the SOUND menu, then choose Dump, then VGM Start.

When you want to stop logging, choose VGM Stop from the same menu.

You should see messages like this in the Messages window, if you have it open:

The file will have been created in the \music\ subfolder of Meka's folder.

In Dega:

Load the game you want to log music from. Press Esc or right-click to make the menu appear. Click on the Sound menu, then choose VGM Log, then Start. A dialogue box will appear where you can choose the folder and filename you want for the VGM file.

When you want to stop logging, choose Stop from the same menu.

Which one should you use?

At the time of writing, Dega 1.09 produces flawed VGM files. The timing is not quite exact, so you can't use the Round Times button in VGMTool (see later), and the FM percussion data is not properly initialised so it is not recommended at all for FM VGM rips. However, its advantage over Meka is that it is a normal, windowed, multitasking Windows program which makes it possible to taskswitch to and from other programs.

I almost always use Meka.

• Sample-accurate VGMs
  These are generally only needed when recording sampled audio (ie. voices). For music, frame-accurate (which is what non-sample-accurate VGMs are) gives (almost) exactly the same results, and the files are smaller. So always leave the sample-accurate option unchecked unless it is really needed.
• How much to record
  You should record plenty of music, until you are sure you have heard the whole of any looped section, plus quite a bit more. For safety, record the looped section twice, plus a bit more.
• Fast-recording
  You might want to use speed-up features to "fast-forward" as you log the music; in Meka you can press F2 to switch to manual frameskip mode, and use F4 to speed it up to 1/9 (press F2 again to go back to automatic frameskip mode). In Dega, hold F8 to speed it up.
• Game speed
  Most games were designed for play on 60Hz machines, in Japan or the US. Some games were designed and only released in Europe, and their music is probably designed for playback at 50Hz. In Meka, the TV Type setting affects the playback speed of the VGMs; in Dega it's the PAL menu item. The general rule is, record at NTSC/60Hz unless you have good reason to record at 50Hz, since if necessary the plugin can be set to play back 60Hz files at 50Hz.
• Slow computer?
  Use the emulator's hard-pause facility (F12 in Meka, Pause/Break in Dega). This will stop emulation (and VGM logging), unlike when you use the game's software pause facility by pressing the emulated Pause button. This will make Meka's GUI as fast as possible, and Dega responds faster too (and also pauses emulation while you choose a filename). This also (sort of) gives you a keyboard shortcut for VGM logging.
• Getting the music start
  It's a lot easier to record a VGM if you can control when the music starts. Try pausing the game; some will restart the music when you pause (eg. Alex Kidd in Miracle World), although most stop all sound. Some will restart the music when you unpause (eg. Cosmic Spacehead). Maybe there's a point in the game where you can change to another screen and the music starts there. If the music has an introduction, before the looping part, it's important to get that; if it doesn't, and the whole music loops, you can get away with missing the start and trimming down to the second complete loop, although a silent start makes editing much easier.
• Sound effects
  Make sure there are no sound effects played, because they will be recorded as well. This can be tricky... so here are some pointers:
  • Try the above pause tricks
  • Try and find a point in the game where you can stand still (or whatever, depending on the game genre) and have no SFX play for as long as you need
  • See if the game has a sound test, either openly or via a cheat (check online cheat archives)
  • Maybe the demo plays the music but not the SFX?
  • Some games have an option to turn off the SFX (eg. Cool Spot)
  • See if the same music's played somewhere else in the game, or if you can enter the same area via a different method (maybe by losing a life and restarting) to avoid whatever's interfering with the music
  • You can try this hack which can make most SMS games hang but keep playing the music
  • If all else fails, the game can probably be hacked to play the music you want at a time when no SFX will play, or to make no SFX play. Read Bock's article here.
  Post a message on the Music Forum if you're having trouble with this, maybe someone else can help.

2. Trimming >